How to Make $10,000 in One Day

Two weeks ago we had a pivotal day in our business. It was business as usual. No big contracts signed, no launch party, no special offers. Just our first 5 figure day of “standard” business (no special orders, no weird custom stuff, no contracts, in other words, no windfalls).

No champagne was touched.

There’s a lot of important factors that go in to owning a business that makes 10K a day, but the most important one is mindset.

If you aren’t there yet, I think its important that you pre-emptively develop the mindset and attitudes that exist in folks who are there. That’s why I’m recording how I’m thinking about this stuff as its happening. I’ve never had a 15K day of turnover, but I’ll be damned if I’m not preparing for it!

For years now Ian and I have been practicing visualization. It seems silly to some people, but I believe that the most important part of growing a business and making money is believing you can do it.

The key difference between day dreamers and folks who get it done is how detailed and realistic your visualizations become (I believe more details = more realistic). I would visualize having a 10,000 dollar day, my dreams would include the number and dollar value of the products we’d have to ship, what kinds of products they would need to be, how many people would need to be in our organization, and what kinds of customers we’d need to be in contact with.

Having a strong sense of where you want to be will help you overcome fear and challenges. There will be a lot of both.

When it comes to major obstacles like contacting an influencer or cold calling a huge customer (or believing you can help them in the first place), you’ll need to create desires that are so compelling to you that your fear begins to pale in comparison.

You can think of it like putting your fears in the proper context. They have an unfair advantage in your brain unless you actively manage them.

When I visualize our future business, daily turnover plays a big role in my thoughts. “Business as usual” is essentially passive income. That’s income that we don’t have to work for. We have to keep systems in place to maintain it, and its inevitable that the market will shift and we’ll have to adjust. But the odds are with me that I could just quit working for the next 6 months and the sharp cats on our team would probably keep things at least about the current level.

In my mind that means everything I do extra is gravy. Contracts, new product lines, new ideas, pushing things along further.

Here’s some of the things I’ve learned on how to get to this point, and where to go from here.

The only system we over-focus on is our phones. (we use Grasshopper and Skype). There is no substitute in most businesses for meeting and creating deep relationships with key partners, customers, and suppliers. Talk to them regularly. Help them. Make it happen for them. CALL them. We do stuff like order automation and we create protocols for stuff, but relationships and revenues are where we over-focus.

Hire people. The single most important thing you can do to scale your business. I’m a fan of cart-before-the-horse tactics, which means, if most businesses that make 10K a month have at least 4 employees (for purpose of illustration), and you want to make 10K a month, find ways to get those other four people involved as soon as possible. I know this can seem a little crazy, but finding ways to manage employees, and supply vision to four people is precisely the kind of work you need to be doing if you want to achieve scale. Insisting on doing everything yourself holds you back from the kind of work that you need to get good at. If you are nervous to hire, educate yourself about the power of hiring in the Philippines and get serious about your idea.

Don’t just partner up with your buddy. You aren’t going to make hay if you are partnering up with your best friend because you think it will be fun for the next 6 months. I know this one is kind of flip but its a classic first timer mistake. Take stock of your situation and make sure you aren’t just in a marriage of convenience.

Have solid accounting and cash flow plan. Know exactly how much money you want to be making from your business. At the scale of 10K in revenue in one day, “cash” might only exist on paper, that means the conceptual framework you use for your personal finances, “x in the bank, x in my wallet,” doesn’t work. You need to preserve cash in a business if you want to earn it. If you leave profits in your business, have a clear plan on why they are there. Cash will disappear when its not tended and preserved.

Know Your Shit. This is a common mistake I see people making. To make a great business work you need to understand something valuable. That can take time. People often want to outsource or hire-in to understand their own markets and products (this is especially the case when it comes to software and web-based products). This is almost always a disaster. Find me a successful entrepreneur who doesn’t understand the key technical elements of their product. You don’t need to be a programer (in my case I manufacture steel products, but I can’t weld!) but you need to understand in great detail how this stuff comes together.

Minimize your tax burden. “Making money” is all about protecting it. You haven’t earned a dollar if the government takes it from you. Find ways to legally minimize your tax load and make efficient investments that don’t take much of your energy away from growing your business. Starting an office in an overseas location can help a lot with this, I’ll be discussing these benefits in my upcoming book about the Philippines (get on the mailing list!).

Never confuse expenses with investment. Those new chairs that you think will make your staff more productive are not “investments.” The are “expenses.” That’s it.

When you earn your first chunk of cash, don’t spend it. I want to be a cash millionaire, so when I meet one I practically tie them down and try to drain their brain. I’ve had the opportunity to talk to lots of folks who made their millions from scratch, and this is the #1 piece of advice I hear by far. (Even Mark Cuban mentions this in his great “How to Get Rich” series). Liquid cash means access to opportunities, so be prepared not squander those opportunities on stupid stuff.

Hustle. The better you get at it, the more fun it becomes and the more interesting the party gets.

Don’t be a douche, unless you are insanely good at what you do and you have endless energy. I’ve met a lot of really sharp douches who have taken calculated risks that didn’t work out and they landed their asses right back in a job. “Good will” might not make your company worth more, but it sure as hell helps you develop a network of people that are willing to help you out when you need it.

Fire fast. Generally when making a new hire, I stress the importance of a 3 month trial period. I let them know there are lots of chemistry issues that are important to our organization, and that we move people who don’t fit out quickly. I look at employment as a fair and agreed upon contract amongst two consenting adults. I don’t think job security is a fundamental right. When I hire someone, I promise to put them to work the best way I know how in order to create profits for a growing company. In return they can expect a paycheck as long as they are involved and the chance to engage all the new opportunity that will come in to the organization. One of the biggest problems I’ve encountered in my career is the inability of executives to fire employees or re-align people when the dynamic of an organization has changed. I’ve seen businesses lose millions of dollars and waste years of people’s lives by keeping people working in positions where they were no longer contributing to achieve a companies vision. In many cases, these people were no longer respected by their superiors! Keeping mediocre performers in an entrepreneurial, growing business hurts everyone else’s chances to create a great living for a lot more people and offer incredible value to your market. In other words, you aren’t doing your employees any favors by keeping them in a job they aren’t good at.

Don’t worry about your competition. Beat them. If you are in a zero sum market, put them out of business. Think of ways you can. If you are in a market where you can support each other, find a way you can make money off them.

I know this is a really old post but something happened to me today that is so relevant, so I thought I would share.

Having that first 10k day does feel really good when it is generated from normal, everyday cash flows. Early on in my days @ExumaTech I really made a fuss about closing the big deal and I pushed my sales team in this direction. We spent a bunch of time trying to get the biggest dealers in North America on our stuff, often times forsaking margins.

Now I’ve completely changed my focus to recurring revenue and I can actually sleep at night knowing that we are delivering products and services to our customers that they pay for month in, month out. The big deal can be a great motivator for the team, but I would encourage those starting out to not be lured into the notion that closing the big deal guarantees success because there is always next month to contend with.

I am glad you introduced the concept of ‘visualization’ here. I played golf this morning with a very successful software executive. We talked about visualizing the perfect stroke, the flight of the ball and where it will roll when it lands. He is close to a scratch golfer (meaning he kicks ass) and we talked about how visualization can help both on and off the course. I still hit a bunch of crappy shots but when I took the time to visualize success I had better results. In biznass, tying visualization that is well communicated to the team with KPIs to support that vision can be a powerful combination.

Can’t wait to hear how it feels when you guys have your first $100K day. (Just visualize ;-)

Hey Cam– very much appreciate you stopping back by this post. I would love to write a follow up. It is fascinating to me that not all income is created equal. Location independent income, for example, even in card currency is more valuable (to me) than location dependent income. Location dependent income often comes with more stressors and reduces your chances to identify opportunities and go after them. What’s even crazier is that the type of income we make is generally just a choice. We aren’t stuck with the businesses we have if we don’t want to. Inspired by your WOS integration at Exuma and working with our product team to see the same type of upgrades…..

And as for this post… I will write that post when we get to 100 for sure!!! :)

Jocelyn S.

Dan, I don’t know you, but thank you! This arrived in my internet search for How to Make $10,000 Through Writing. It was right at the top of the list. Conveniently, I relate to what you have written, given my current position with a new company. This direct approach blog is just what I needed to read and digest before bed. I will read and digest when I wake up before work… and I will pass this gem along to others. I now am off to search through more of your site and find out who is the man behind the blog. Thank you.

Your post pissed me off real badly and I don’t know why. Its because I’m 19 years playin videogames my whole life and a real big douche in a subtle way [hiding at home, generally not talking to parents] I think. I’m not really good with talking to other peoples too because in school I hate everyone for “partying” [while I played videogames the whole day and surfed the web once I got home LOL]. I…I just want to live in the nature, isolated wtih some friends and learn how I can grow big muscles. Maybe I open up a blog about videogaming I don’t know. I think…I think it is possible for me to be my own boss…I think I will be a loner for the rest of my life [19 years of total isolation will be hard to change that] but maybe I can bring some value to my shitty life by respecting myself. May this seed grow.

nomadcapitalist

Yes, it would good to see a post about REAL business, rather than something that uses the words “epic” and “get a better word”.

michael

my name is michael i really want to share my testimony on how i became an
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open up to me and tell me that he was a member of the Illuminati that he
have been in the court for more than 10 years that his riches and
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but it not an easy task to be a member but i was finally initiated into the
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to the extend of being a managing Director i never know how to thank this
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i really thank you people Illuminati. so i just want to share to the world
that this is real and it have help me and work for me so if you want to
become a member i can lead you into the court of richness and you will
never be poor again, know that it only a member in the Illuminati that can
initiate you into the church of illumination they do not contact directly
because they are fake Illuminati all over the world, this is my emaililueminosenrealspell@gmail.com they will tell you how to join,
my name is james i really want to share my testimony on how i became an
Illuminati member, through my friend. i was moving with my friend for more
than 10 years and he have been getting rich everyday and even giving me
money but he never told me the secret of his success until a day i was
frustrated to let him know that he should help me also that was when he
open up to me and tell me that he was a member of the Illuminati that he
have been in the court for more than 10 years that his riches and
protection came from this court.so i told him to let me be into the court
but it not an easy task to be a member but i was finally initiated into the
devil church of the Illuminati and i was confirm in there church. after a
month of being a member of Illuminati i got promotion that same month in my
working place and within a year i was promoted thrice in my working place
to the extend of being a managing Director i never know how to thank this
church of Illuminati and today am rich as my friend also, and also the one
that surprise me most was that i got an accident with my new car and the
car was right off but i still survive the accident and nothing happen to me
i really thank you people Illuminati. so i just want to share to the world
that this is real and it have help me and work for me so if you want to
become a member i can lead you into the court of richness and you will
never be poor again, know that it only a member in the Illuminati that can
initiate you into the church of illumination they do not contact directly
because they are fake Illuminati all over the world, this is my emaililueminosenrealspell@gmail.com they will tell you how to join,

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Hello everyone, I am a bit late on finding this post, but still its worthy one.

Anyway my point is that i share the idea about bringing my self higher monthly income by doing my own business, I do live in a country where we earn 150 euros per month and monthly expences are around 300 euros, so its tough fight for life around here. But that is case only when you work for someone, so i have this idea to start a business, and i dont have even small amount of money to start it.

So for that purpose i want to use this occasion to offer my skills here in this community ,or who ever else happen to check this post randomly.

I can make website, video editing(voiceovermusic), photoshop, even music(electro). And i can also probably handle any other sort of online related tasks you might need.

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We could exchange Skype and talk more detailed on this.

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Thanks in advance.

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really nice and well thought out points on how to run a successfully business mehn … the best i have seen thus far, learnt alot. thx

Diana Jerminah

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